Location: The woods of the Finger Lakes, western NY
Posts: 124
Cranking brake bias forward is, IMO, "fixing a symptom", and not addressing the problem.
Sure...you can dump the brake bias full-forward, and have virtually no rear brakes, and you're not likely to get much wheel-hop. You've also put a big kink into your braking plans.
If the axle is oscillating on the brakes, figure out why. Maybe you're running too much rear brake...it also manifest itself as "skewed sideways in hard braking zones and big clouds of tire smoke in the mirrors". If you're not dealing with those two symptoms, then you probably have other issues.
You're goal is to keep that rear axle on the ground, so you can brake, brake and turn, turn and accelerate. Many drivers have never REALLY experimented with their shocks, and really have no feel for what adjustments do. It's cheap to do...and the rewards about learning what your shocks do are IMMENSE.
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"It's always better to be shot out of a cannon than to be squeezed out of a tube" - Hunter S. Thompson
Even with a brake bias, your not turning off the rear brakes.
shocks are tuning device...yes, they will only help with rebound
And yes alot is gained in the shock area.
Tested shocks a couple of years ago for a company...the results were amazing
I run double adjustable shocks (Koni's, modified by Truechoice) in the rear, specifically so I can have separate handles on compression and rebound. Short-bodied Penske single adjustables in the front. Not cheap...but effective.
Say John what did it cost you to have your Koni's modified to double adjustable or were they originally that way and you had them modified even further? Are double adj Koni's even available anymore?
I had a slight problem with wheel hope under hard braking but just dialed out some rear brake and it helped.
They're replicas of the ones used on the T/A Boss 302's (and other racing Mustangs in the 60's), right?
They are sure pricey, but I guess compared to the total cost of actively racing a vintage Mustang it's not so bad
Since the rebound has such an influence on wheel hop, is this also the reason for staggered shocks? I figured that with staggered shocks, there's always one shock in rebound when the axle rotates, thus damping the forth and back motion more effectively. Am I correct here?
Location: The woods of the Finger Lakes, western NY
Posts: 124
Yeah...lower right-hand corner of page 8...the one on the left, of the pair of orange-bodied shocks. If you call Truechoice's shop in Ohio and talk to guy who runs their shock shop - Phil - they can pretty much build anything you want. Use Penske single-adj. in the front...have a set of Koni double-adjustables for the front but I didn't get any benefits from having a separate "rebound" handle up front, and had other geometry issues up there, so went with the Pen$kes.
And...while this might seem expensive for "street" shocks, they're not at all expensive as a "race" shock. Have a single-seat race car with Penske shocks, and those puppies are wallet-denting expensive.
Staggered shocks...don't have them on my car...I don't believe that they help in the "bump / rebound" thing.
Shocks are HUGE, performance-wise. Better performance gains from $2k in shocks than from $6k in motor work, regardless of car or chassis. You have to learn to tune and tweak them...that's why they're "adjustable", but once set to make the driver happy, you wouldn't believe the difference.
Really.
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"It's always better to be shot out of a cannon than to be squeezed out of a tube" - Hunter S. Thompson
if you replace the rear springs get the ones with the xtra front half to keep wheel hop down and this might fix your hop problem on braking , i have ben road rocing since about 1974 and never had a hop problem on braking even hard braking from 120 mph plus and i brake late. 720 front springs , 165 pound rear leaves , no rear sway bar (i use a locker) koni double adjustables not staggared.
Location: The woods of the Finger Lakes, western NY
Posts: 124
Free advice is generally worth what you pay for it...
Setting shocks is a HIGHLY personal thing. What feels good to you might feel terrifying to somebody else. I am always the "setup guy" for our endurance racing cars, and several of my co-drivers really hate the way I set up the cars, as I tend to like "loose as hell" handling characteristics. You HAVE TO experiment...spend a day or two just diddling with shock settings on-track...it's well worth your time. Not only will you make the car better handling, but you'll gain knowledge about what all the shock diddle actually do.
Race shock adjustment is generally only effective in the upper 1/3 or 1/4 of the adjustment range. In my experience, I ALWAYS seem to end up in the upper quarter of the "stiff" side of the range. Not trying to be a gasbag here, but "experience" includes several decades of SCCA national & regional racing, occasional dabbling in pro racing, and diverse stuff from "open cockpit rear engine" to "front wheel drive production-based" to "rear wheel drive production based...from 100-500hp". For whatever reason, whether Koni or Penske or Bilstein or Ohlins or Tokico etc. etc., I always end up at the "stiff" end of the range...and so do all of the (competent...) racers I race with.
YMMV.
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"It's always better to be shot out of a cannon than to be squeezed out of a tube" - Hunter S. Thompson
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